The February Renewal Moon brings boldness to the fore.

‘I Die Daily’ (study), Drozda, oil pastel on board, 14 x 14″, 2003, Artist collection

Call in a renewed courage!!

At this point on the Natural Calendar each opportunity to move forward creates kick-back.

Offered the chance to explore we might feel pulled in the opposite direction. Instead of catapulting forward with a vision we feel our get-up-and-go spiral into inertia.

Stop. Get a grip.

To keep momentum building toward spring equinox take note this week of the ways that you become distracted.

It’s time to be tuning into your next bold step

For most of us that means confronting the dragons, monsters and strange beliefs whose job it is to jump out onto our art/life path challenging forward momentum.  These parts of us are well trained to do their level best maintaining status quo.

In support of this time of Renewal on the Natural Calendar we’ll take some time noticing the appearance of stumbling blocks.

This is an area in which I revel.  My art/life experience has taught me to be all about ferreting out my own dark shadows…knowing full well that there is always another lurking.

Stock image

In Buddhism we’re reminded that the wisest approach is to stop. Don’t run. Stand still. open the mouth of the demon and demand to be devoured. POOF! The demon will de-materialize. Bye. Bye. 

Polarities and Dualities

Diametrically opposed qualities like up/down, left/right, in/out, correct/wrong, black/white, high/low, good/bad, etc. are representative of the many ways that brains setup tension. Negative tension drains energy and makes us squirrelly and sick. Creative tension ignites passion! However we have to get  lined up with its inventiveness and the clarion call of: ‘Let’s do this!’

YES!!
Let’s do this thing!

Throughout the month of February revitalize some area of your art/life

This is your chance to make something feel new again. It may be a studio practice, a relationship, a personal habit…it doesn’t matter what area you select. Your choice may be physical, emotional or spiritual:intangible/intuitive…every area of life impacts your art/life and any Renewal fostered now provides a domino effect. Plus an entire month each year devoted to Renewal is FUNctional.

This week we focus on the polar opposite point from February on the Natural Calendar. That would place our attention directly across the circle. take a look back to August 2015. In August we were actively exploring the what, who, how, when, why of Trust.

Renewal and Trust create a tension point on the yearly circle; a tug of war that can cause us to get off course… until we stand in the center and give each; Renewal and Trust its due. You might also find it inspiring to gaze into the future… six months out… and ask yourself what you will be willing to Trust once we come back ’round to that powerful point in mid-summer.

This week review your notes/journal/schedule book from six months back. Here’s a bit of what I found:

In the first week of August blog post…these empowering instructions:

“I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. Then you will see what medicines they make, and where and when to apply them.

That is the work. The only work.”

Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Ask: What was happening in my art/life story six months ago?

Entry from the second week of August blog post:

As we approach the fall equinox on September 23 the prevailing energy shifts from primary masculine of spring and summer to the opening of the door to the feminine urge to nurture and contain during fall and winter (Northern Hemisphere). The spring and summer are naturally about outward, get going, make it happen, left brain analysis, solve the problem, drive, invent, progress, manifest: ACTION!!

Take a deep breath…

The fall and winter half of the Natural Time wheel of the year embraces the feminine: inward, conserve, protect, compassionate, calm, nurture, nourish, humanize, fierce, beauty, quality, watchfulness, intuitive, create, reverence, resilience, sensibility, right brain, playful, guardianship, love & joy: ~RECEIVE~

Ask: How was my trust level manifesting six months ago?

In week three of August we met the author of The Book of Qualities Wise Woman J. Ruth Gelder:

 

Bowls and Being, J. Ruth Gendler, monoprint

Trust

Trust is the daughter of Truth. She has an objective memory, neither embellishing nor denying the past. She is an ideal confidante __ gracious, candid, and discreet.

Trust talks to people who need to hear her; she listens to those who need to be heard; she sits quietly with those who are skeptical of words. Her presence is subtle, simple, and undeniable.

Trust rarely buys round-trip tickets because she is never sure how long she will be gone and when she will return. Trust us at home in the desert and the city, with dolphins and tigers, with outlaws, lovers and saints. When Trust bought her house, she tore out all of the internal walls, strengthened the foundation, and rebuilt the door. Trust is not fragile, but she has no need to advertise her strength. She has a gambler’s respect for the interplay between luck and skill; she is the mother of Love.

Stillness, J. Ruth Gendler, collograph 

Ask: What am I not Trusting?

In week four of August I posted a short story about how I began to develop trust in myself (funny how we can have a quality when young and then have to find a way back to it when we are older):

When I was a little girl I couldn’t get enough of being outdoors or of learning. After a day at John Muir Elementary School I’d run the ¾ mile home, change clothes, bolt down the stairs, dart 4 houses up the street to Dale Ruby’s and set up make-shift cardboard box desks in the back corner of his family garage. Paper and pencil in place I’d gather the other kids and we would draw for an hour or two. We were in our own world until mom opened the kitchen door, stepped out onto the blacktopped driveway, puffed her cheeks and sent her ‘come to dinner’ whistle drifting down the sidewalk.

Ask: Why am I as I am? Who am I being?

Hermit, Drozda, Prismacolor pencil on rag paper, 6 x 4″

I continue to insert the link to The 2016 Lifecycle Forecast … scan the article and be conscious of the overarching energy for the Global Year. Together we support each next step on the path during this time for ‘Compassion in Action’.

 

The Call, Drozda, Acrylic/canvas, 54 x 54″, 1991, private collection

WISE WOMAN OF THE WEEK

This week welcome our Wise Woman companion on the art/life trail…

J. RUTH GELDER

Three Bowls, J. Ruth Gendler, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches

In honor of Renewal and being willing to open to opposites I bring back the brilliance of artist, teacher, writer,  J. Ruth Gendler.  

Her  Book of Qualities  (which I highly recommend) carries a review quote on the front cover:

“A wry and whimsical mirror in which we catch an unexpected look at ourselves.” 

Whole Life Times

 

The Book of Qualities, J. Ruth Gendler

In that one sentence we receive good medicine for this entire month.

J. Ruth Gendler is committed to the transformational potential of the arts. Her experience with the rhythms of creativity is evidenced by a diverse background in art, writing, publishing, teaching, and lecturing. Her first published piece (when she was 8) described how she wanted to go to the Louvre and see the paintings. This was followed the next year by three poems about color. She has been interested in the intersection of art and writing, language and vision ever since then.

Here’s what Ruth writes on Ambivalence…a quality that fits the tension of the energy for this month:

 

Ambivalence, Drawing, J. Ruth Gelder, ©1984 & 1988, used with permission

Ambivalence

I remember one evening when Ambivalence and I sat down to enjoy a nice dinner on the porch. The phone rang, and he jumped out of his chair to answer it.

When he came back to join me at the table, the soup was cold, and his mind was preoccupied with programming details. It was useless trying to talk to him. The only way I could gain his attention was to make a scene.

Before I realized it, we were once again engaged in a power struggle, and my irritation gave him the advantage. He was clear that it was only my problem that I needed consistency, and added that the soup tastes best when it’s lukewarm.

As you know, the relationship went on like that for years. As soon as I would start to organize life without him, beautiful love letters appeared in my mailbox.

When I grew fond of our weekends in the country, he became indifferent. It took me a long time to figure out that for him indecision is a desired form of suspense.

This game of yes/no/maybe intrigues him. It left me exhausted, and I can see that it is beginning to give you a nervous stomach.

 Go here to visit a gallery of compelling statements and Gendler’s monoprint trees:

 Early Tree, J.Ruth Gendler, ink on paper, © 1982

I am drawn to the way trees hold light and air and qualities that seem invisible, their generosity, wisdom and silent, soulful eloquence. Making art about trees—which I have done all my life but am doing with much greater focus now—inspires me to look more deeply at the world around me and also the world inside, to draw closer to nature, and find new ways to root and take nourishment from light.

~Thank you, J. Ruth Gendler for being an inspiration during this month of Renewal~

The Bodhisattva (detail), Drozda, Acrylic/canvas, 2003, Private collection

Compassion Actions for this week…

1.) Be courageous. Notice your shadow.
2.) Become aware of how and why you sabotage or manipulate your next best step.
3.) Ask yourself if you Trust yourself to Renew some aspect of your art/life.
4.) What is calling you?
5.) Are you inadvertently creating roadblocks that require dynamite to break through? 

Journal, draw, dance, create the poem, design the movement and connect with the part of you sending out sparks of dazzling Renewal.

Lunar phases (detail), Drozda, Acrylic/board 

Renew with Luna See and Lifecycle natural time management tools designed to align with the creative rhythms of your best Art/Life. 

TIME MASTERY IS SELF MASTERY

Discover and uncover the ecstatic thrill of ‘making life the master peace’ while traveling the art/life trail.

 

Donna Iona Drozda, All rights reserved. © 2016